Something Silent
by StorySmall
Summary: The dream is over. Mabel and Dipper are together once more, but something is still wrong. Something is still missing. Sequel to "Something Missing"
1. Setting Out

PHASE 1

 _To Mabel, the ocean was a new adventure waiting to be explored; to Dipper, it was a threat_

There was too much to take in at once. Aside from the throbbing headache that had made its home in her skull, Mabel felt so…normal. What she had only an hour ago considered a reality was only an illusion, and here she found herself in another time and space, and it felt so right. Propped up against two beds' worth of pillows and with a pink blanket curled around their legs, Dipper and Mabel sat together on the sister's bed, holding their heads and each other's hands in silence while they tried to process everything. One hour ago she had woken up in her bed in the Mystery Shack attic. One hour ago, a set of memories had been restored in her mind. One hour ago, she had been reunited with the brother she had forgotten she ever had. Mabel stole a glance at him. He had retrieved his "Journal 3" from under his pillow and he would occasionally glance down at it or turn a page. Mabel peeked at its pages as well, but the entries served only as a reminder that the memories in her head came from two different places. There was a page about a crystal for example. The book told of the mineral's mysterious ability to enlarge or shrink a living being when light shone through it. Mabel distinctly remembered the adventure where she and Dipper had fought about being the tallest twin and they used part of the crystal and a flashlight to try and grow taller than the other. This was clearly a memory from Mabel's current existence. The page Dipper had hand-drawn and written about cursed wax figures however, brought two memories into Mabel's mind. The first was remembering how she and Dipper had fought them off during the funeral for Grunkle Stan's wax figure's funeral (it was a long story), but in the other memory, she had fought them off herself. Both memories were equally vivid and real in her head, but Mabel had to wonder if the second memory was really a memory at all. Perhaps it was all a dream. She had woken up at the end of it after all. The only thing keeping her from dismissing the second life she had ingrained in her head was the tight hold she had on her brother's hand, like he was her anchor to reality.

Looking into his eyes, as brown as the ones she saw in the mirror, she could see he felt it too. Funny how she knew so much about this boy after living a whole life where he was a stuffed sheep. The concept made her giggle to herself.

"What's so funny?" Dipper asked, closing the book in his lap so that the cover faced downwards.

"I was just thinking about how in my dream you were a sheep," Mabel grinned. She poked his shoulder, "You know like, 'who wants a lamby, lamby, lamby'?"

"Oh, don't go there," Dipper groaned, letting go of her other hand.

"I do! I do!" Mabel continued to sing, poking him with both fingers.

"Oh, please!" her brother moaned and slid off the bed, but Mabel could see he was hiding a grin.

"So go up and greet your mammy, mammy, mammy! Hi there! Hi there! C'mon Dipper, I know you know the words." Mabel jumped off the bed next to him. "So…." She held her hands out to him as if to cue him.

"I'm not gonna do it," Dipper said with a tease in his voice.

"Soooo…" Mabel cued him with her hands again.

"You can't make me do it!"

"Soooooooooooo…." Mabel poked Dipper in the side and he giggled and squirmed.

"No don't!" Dipper yelped, pulling his vest down over his weak spot.

"So march!" Mabel tickled his side again. It wasn't long before she had tackled him to the floor, roughly tickling his sides as he laughed and tried to fight her off.

"C'mon Dipper, I know you know the words!" She said in a sing-song voice as she made her way up to his underarms.

"So march, march, march around the daises!" Dipper sang as best he could through his laughter.

"And don't, don't, don't you forget about the ba-by!" The twins sang together, Mabel giving jazz hands at the end.

"You win this time," Dipper offered in a defeated tone before pushing his sister off his stomach.

"Yes! I'm the best!" Mabel shouted, not getting up from where she had fallen on the floor.

The two lay in silence on the floor for a moment, listening to Dipper's breathing as he caught his breath.

"What happened?" Dipper asked at last. He lifted his head to look at his sister. "To us, I mean. Do you remember everything too?"

"Yeah like, two weird lives I've lived, one way more fun than the other," Mabel answered, waving her hands in the air.

"But why? What happened?"

Mabel didn't reply, but she looked up at him too.

"Something weird has to be going on, that kind of stuff doesn't just _happen_."

"I dunno I mean, this is Gravity Falls we're talking about," Mabel suggested, "We've seen weirder things, right?"

"I guess, but usually there's some sort of logic behind it, or at least the journal tells us something," Dipper put his head back down. "This just doesn't make any sense."

"Can we…" Mabel looked up at the ceiling, "Can we maybe not talk about it? Just for a little while?"

"Why not?"

"I just…" Mabel folded her arms over her chest. Dipper looked up at her again, then lay back down.

"Sure, I guess so, that was all kind of wild," Dipper put a hand on his stomach, "We can wait for a bit." The two lay together for a while longer before Dipper spoke up again. "I missed this, us hanging out." Mabel scratched her chin, but didn't say anything. "I missed you. All the crazy adventures we've had over the summer-not even just the summer, our whole lives…It was so weird seeing how much it would suck if you weren't there."

"Yeah," Mabel agreed. "We're a pretty great team."

"Mystery twins?" Dipper offered, pointing his fist towards her.

"Mystery twins." The two were forced to awkwardly sit up halfway in order for their fists to meet, but the collided and the two let out a satisfied "boosh" before lying back down.

"Well, I'm hungry," Mabel said, sitting up, "I haven't eaten since…well I dunno but I'm still hungry."

"Oh yeah, me too," Dipper agreed, "Let's go bother Stan into making something for us to eat."

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel shouted as soon as she reached the steps, "The twins are hungry! The twins crave _sacrifice_!"

" _Human sacrifice!_ " Dipper shouted after her. They were met with no reply

"Not you specifically!" Mabel corrected, "We could eat someone else!" They hit the bottom of the stairs, but were again met with only silence.

"Aw we scared him off," Dipper muttered jokingly, crossing his arms.

"Well if he's not around to make us dinner, then he's not around to say we _can't_ 'borrow' some money and go out to the diner," Mabel suggested mischievously.

"You strike an excellent point," Dipper stroked his chin and pouted in mock thoughtfulness, "Yes, yes an excellent point indeed. I'm in."

It wasn't hard to swipe a 20 from the duffel bag of bills Stan kept hidden in the living room, and the twins were soon off walking into town.

"It's so quiet," Mabel remarked, slowing her skipping so her walking brother could catch up.

"I know," Dipper said quietly, "I haven't seen _anyone_ since we left."

Mabel walked alongside him, and they listened. Mabel heard her feet on the gravel, the wind in the trees, rushing water in the distance, but not a lot else.

"Where _is_ Stan?" Mabel asked softly, but Dipper didn't answer. They made it into town, but there didn't seem to be a soul in sight.

"Dipper?" Mabel grabbed his arm gently.

"Mabel, something's wrong."

"Where is everyone?"

"I don't know."

Dipper pushed open the door to the convenience store, and the bell above the door welcomed them cheerfully. The lights were all on inside and everything was stocked, but there still wasn't anyone to be seen.

"Hello?" Dipper called from the doorway. His voice echoed quietly in the building, but then it went silent again. The twins tried the gas station, and the arcade, and the diner, but each building they visited was just as empty as the next.

"Dipper, what's happening?" Mabel whispered as they stepped of the porch of the movie theater.

"I think…" Dipper began. He hesitated, then he said, "I think the real question is: how long were we asleep?"


	2. Nothing

PHASE 1

 _Mabel liked to comb the shore, picking up every seashell she could find and putting it in a plastic bucket or swimming out as far as she could before her lifejacket prevented anything but the tips of her toes from reaching the sandy ocean floor._

"We have to find Grunkle Stan! And Candy and Grenda and Wendy and-"

"We'll look for them but here, take something."

Dipper's first plan of action was to return to the gas station and get something to eat. He immediately pulled a first-aid kit out from behind the counter and then began walking the aisles to find something for the two of them to eat.

"Here, gummy bears, you like those," He said, pulling a bag off the shelf and handing it to his sister.

"That's stealing," Mabel objected.

"It's not stealing if there's no one to steal from," Dipper retorted, shaking the bag once, "Now here, take them." Mabel unhappily took the bag and began to fight to open the plastic that sealed it shut. "We've got to get to the bottom of this," Dipper continued, making his way further along the aisles. "Here, water bottle. We'll look for someone…anyone. They can't have all vanished."

"Or died," Mabel added, tearing at the bag with her teeth.

"Right. That and, they can't have been long. Nothing's fallen into disrepair yet and the lights are still on all over. Those would have burned out," Dipper took his journal out from under his vest and slid it into a backpack that hung on the shelf before taking it and slinging it over his shoulder. "Besides, we're not in any apparent danger, so you shouldn't worry about it."

"Who's worried?" Mabel asked, spitting out a tiny corner of the bag that she had managed to tear off with her teeth.

"Well, that's good," Dipper said, and he put the first aid kit, some candy bars, and a couple of bottled waters in his backpack, "We should look around. For all we know, this is some elaborate prank."

Mabel knew that wasn't the case, and she knew that _he_ knew that wasn't the case, but she chose not to say so. "Where do we start?" she asked instead.

"The root of most of our troubles," Dipper said with a little smirk, "The Tent of Telepathy."

They had to double back to reach the less-than-humble tent, and Mabel grew more and more aware of just how quiet it really was. Even with the lack of business happening in the town, the woods were deathly quiet. There wasn't a squirrel rustling in the trees or a bird singing.

"I hope Waddles is okay," Mabel said quietly, her pace slowing a little.

"Of course you do," Dipper sighed, but he caught himself, "It's just, I'm worried about us too. I'm worried about everyone. Waddles too."

Mabel put a gummy bear in her mouth. Dipper opened his mouth to say something, but the rest of their walk was done in silence.

"There it is," Dipper commented as the approached the front of the tent.

"This place _sucks_ ," Mabel said, scrunching up her nose and putting all six of her remaining gummies in her mouth. She dropped her bag on the lawn and they proceeded inside. Everything seemed to be in order. The pews were neat and straight, facing the front stage, which was shut.

"C'mon, let's look around," Dipper urged.

"But there's nothing here but weird Gideon stuff," Mabel said after taking a peek behind the front curtain and finding nothing but props.

"We have to look out for secret doors and stuff too," Dipper said with a shrug. "Try some of the levers he uses during his show."

Mabel was happy to oblige. She began to flip the levers, and each executed their corresponding effect. One dimmed and brightened the lights, one dropped glitter from a catch in the ceiling, one opened a trap door on the stage floor.

"I'd love to pull that during one of his shows," Dipper commented.

Mabel tried the rest of the levers, but nothing suspicious happened. "Nothing, Dippingsauce," she said, jumping down off the stage. "Just more weird Gideon stuff."

"There has to be something," Dipper persisted, "Maybe in one of the pews?" After pushing and prodding every one of the heavy wooden benches, the initial excitement of seeking a secret passage was beginning to wear off.

"There's nothing here," Mabel said again, "We should go look somewhere else." Dipper pulled at the straps on his backpack and looked outside. The sky was beginning to change color as the sun began its decent behind the trees.

"Okay. It's your turn to pick, where should we look next?" Dipper said, turning to her.

"We should go back to town and check the newspapers!" Mabel suggested brightly, "They could tell us what happened."

"Who would write the newspapers, Mabel?" Dipper shut her down. "There's nobody to write about it."

"What if they disappeared slowly? It's worth a shot, Dipper."

Dipper thought for a moment. "Fair enough," he said with a shrug. "We can head out there tomorrow. We shouldn't be out after dark."

Mabel nodded. "Back home then," she said, passing her brother on the way out, and taking his arm and leading him back as she went.

"Mabel I-" Dipper began as they approached the steps to the Shack. Mabel stopped and turned to look at him. "Nevermind," he said, looking away.

After thoroughly sweeping the Shack for any sign of life, anomalies, or evidence of what may have taken place, the twins settled in the living room, turning the lights on as it grew dark.

"It'll be fun," Mabel said, slouching next to her brother in their great uncle's armchair, "You and me on a wild adventure, and it'll turn out fine like it always does."

"I'm glad to see you're feeling like yourself again," Dipper said softly. Mabel sat up.

"Was I not-?" Mabel's mind quickly turned to her other self. Withdrawn, pessimistic, miserable…Dipper remembered her that way too. There was a strong disconnect with her other self and Mabel wasn't sure how to feel about it. "You just had to bring it up, didn't you," she said, folding her arms.

"I'm sorry," Dipper whispered. "But it has to be connected. Stuff like that doesn't just happen. I can't stop thinking about it."

Mabel had admittedly kind of shoved all that out of her mind when the new, missing persons thrill had appeared, but she also realized that she didn't want to think about it, she'd rather it didn't exist, but it did. "What are you thinking then?" She asked.

"I'm sc-I don't want to go to sleep," Dipper confessed. "I don't know what will happen. I don't want to lose you again."

Mabel looked away. There was a long silence between them, and the lack of background noise made it all the more painful.

"Maybe there's something on the TV," Mabel suggested, "We could watch some nerd thing you like."

"I tried the TV already. There's nothing on it, no news reports, no nothing," Dipper said softly, rubbing one eye.

"Well our tapes should still work, right? Let's watch a movie. Let's just… not think about this for tonight, we can do whatever we need to do tomorrow," Mabel said and she went to the cardboard box that held all their vhs tapes. Dipper began to object, but he stopped himself.

Mabel chuckled to herself. "Look, alien abduction movies. Too soon?"

Dipper smiled, "I guess you never know in this town, do you?"

Mabel smiled back. "How about some dumb old Western, there can't be anything too relevant in that, can there?"

"Sounds good to me."

The lights were turned out and the two of them huddled together under a blanket in the armchair. With the flashing of the TV lights and the crackly sound of gunfire from the speakers, Mabel quickly found herself dozing off, feeling safe with the warmth of her brother next to her. As her eyes drooped closed, Mabel didn't see her brother as he began to rustle through the pages of his six-fingered journal, and he didn't feel himself as he fell asleep too.


	3. One and Two

PHASE 1

 _"You're safe," they tried to tell Dipper. "Your life jacket will keep you afloat. Just look at your sister! See how much fun she's having!"_

It was a tiny stream of sunlight that penetrated the blinds and shone directly into Mabel's eyes that finally stirred her awake. A deathly silence still hung in the air as Mabel lifted her cheek from the chair's armrest and wiped a stream of saliva from her chin. Then the panic kicked in.

"Dipper?" she shouted, snapping fully awake instantly. The space where her brother had occupied next to her was empty.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Mabel couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when she heard her brother's voice in the room over.

"I'm sorry," Dipper said, appearing back in the living room with a box of crackers, "I wasn't sure when you'd wake up so I went ahead and started preparing."

"Preparing? We're just heading into town, right?" Mabel asked, tilting her head to the side, "You're not planning some thousand-mile-journey, are you Dipster?"

"Well…ye s and no," Dipper said, shrugging to one side. Mabel's face fell, but Dipper quickly corrected himself. "No, we're probably not going to travel 1000 miles, but yes, if we don't find anything in town…or even if we _do_ find anything in town, we're likely gonna be heading out of Gravity Falls today."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, what if everybody comes back? Where will we even go anyway?"

Dipper shrugged and handed her the crackers he was holding, "I dunno, but if worst comes to worse, the least we can do is be ready. Start packing once you're done."

Dipper turned back into the kitchen, and Mabel's eye turned to the front door, where she noticed there was already a fair amount of baggage waiting beside it.

"Packing what? Are we gonna carry _that much_ stuff around?" she called, not looking away.

"Of course not," Dipper said peeking out from the kitchen, in his hand was a single key, "We're gonna drive."

"-And, that should be the last of it," Dipper said, slamming the back door of Stan's car shut.

"Road trip! Road trip! Road trip!" Mabel cheered.

"Alright," Dipper dusted off his hands and opened the passenger door. "M'lady," he said with a bow, motioning for her to get inside. "Usually we're not supposed to sit up front….let alone drive, but I think this counts as an exception," he said with a smirk.

"Rule breaking! Rule breaking! Rule breaking!" Mabel climbed into the seat and Dipper took his seat in the driver's side.

"You sure you don't want me to drive?" Mabel suggested teasingly when Dipper hesitated to turn the key in the ignition.

"That's the last thing I want," Dipper said with a smile, and he started the car.

The drive back into town was slow, and despite how carefully he moved, Dipper still swerved jerkily back onto his side of the road when he began to drift off of it.

"Ugh, I think I feel those crackers coming back up," Mabel groaned, putting a hand to her mouth.

"We're here, don't worry," Dipper assured her, looking a little green himself. He did his best to pull neatly into a parallel parking space, but ended up with half the vehicle still sticking out in the street when Mabel threatened to investigate without him while he finished parking.

"You know, parking like that is really dangerous," he grumbled, following Mabel into the library.

"Chillax, bro," Mabel said, patting his shoulder in mock comfort, "If anyone gives you a ticket, I promise I'll pay it." She proceeded to pull a newspaper off the rack, and the twins examined it.

"Well, it's a July paper," Dipper observed, pointing to the date in the corner. "That presumably means everyone disappeared on this day."

"And it's certainly hot enough to be July, woof," Mabel added, wiping her brow on her sweater.

"That's about all I can gather, that's relevant, though," Dipper muttered, turning through the pages. "There's nothing about any disappearances or anything, just regular articles and stuff."

"Dangit, well at least this wasn't entirely useless," Mabel said.

"How do you mean-" Dipper looked up to see his sister had made a little boat out of the front page and rolled his eyes. "Wait!" he shouted, looking back down at the page in his hands.

"What is it?"

"There's a fair going on just a few miles west of here."

"Oh!" Mabel looked over his shoulder, "What kind of rides do they have?

"I…don't know, but! If this paper's current, there's bound to be people there, maybe that's where everyone went!"

"You mean to say Grunkle Stan packed up and went to a fair without us?" Mabel asked sarcastically.

"Well, no," Dipper admitted, "But it's our best shot. If nothing else, we have a direction to head in now."

"Hey Dipper, how many paper boats do you think I can make before we make it out of town?"

"How much paper do you have?"

"A lot"

Dipper glanced over at his sister, who might as well have been swimming in a small pool of newspaper in the passenger seat. "Well, we're pretty close to the border, my estimate is 10."

"What if I do 11?"

"No more than ten, my money's on 10."

"His money's on 10!" Mabel shouted in an announcer voice. "Will Mabel be able to exceed her brother's expectations and build the navy this town so dearly deserves? Let's find out!" Mabel's fingers worked quickly on the papers, and Dipper had a moment of peace while he drove.

"One!" Mabel shouted, throwing the perfectly folded little boat into the backseat.

"There she goes folks, one down, nine to go!" Dipper said, mimicking her announcer voice and checking the intersection as he crossed it.

"Two!"

"The suspense is killing me!"

"Th- aah no! My fold is stuck!"

"Looks like Dipper may win this one!" Dipper taunted.

"Not today! That's three!" Mabel threw the finished boat back.

So it continued until the "Now Leaving Gravity Falls" sign appeared in the horizion.

"The finish line is in sight!" Dipper shouted.

"Nine!" Mabel yelled, not even stopping to throw the boat into the backseat.

"It's gonna be close!" Dipper stepped harder on the gas and the car flew down the road.

"Ten! I've got this, ten!"

"One more and she's got it!"

Mabel's hands worked like lightning but the sign drew quickly closer. Mabel and Dipper both started yelling at the top of their lungs as Mabel made the last fold and the car sped past the sign.

The next thing Dipper knew was that he had fallen asleep. Then the next thing was that he was driving. After whipping his head up with a scream, Dipper slammed on the brakes as the road disappeared in front of him and a sheer cliff rose to meet him. Mabel screamed and Dipper swerved the steering wheel. The car whipped around and barely dodged a tree before it came to a stop at the foot of the cliff. Both of the twins continued screaming after the vehicle came to a stop.

"What happened?" Mabel yelled. "What happened?"

"I-I must have fallen asleep I must have-" Dipper sputtered, his hands glued to the wheel and sweat dripping down his face. He stopped when he realized where he was.

"We're still in town."

Mabel glanced over her shoulder and she too realized that rocky gorge and the thick forests were all too familiar.

"But we just…I saw the sign! We were almost out! We were on the other side of Gravity Falls!" She paused and faced her brother, waiting for a reply. "Dipper?"

Dipper turned to her, his eyes wide in terror and his breaths coming in heavy.

Mabel turned to look out the windshield, and an eleventh paper boat fell out of her hands.


End file.
